“We are continuing to develop the NGBS to include multifamily buildings with non-residential space,” said Mike Luzier, president and CEO of Home Innovation Research Labs, which leads the NGBS Green Certification program. “We made this change to enhance the usability and flexibility of the standard.”

Meanwhile, ASHRAE has bowed out of the standard development partnership for the 2018 version to avoid confusion that could arise from its similarity to Standard 189.1, which provides sustainability guidance for designing, building and operating high-performance green buildings, except low-rise residential buildings.

The standard development committee is accepting proposed changes related to the expanded scope by Nov. 20.

Home Innovation, which has certified nearly 120,000 projects to the standard since the first edition was developed nearly 10 years ago, also serves as secretariat of the standard development process.

For questions related to the NGBS standards development process, please contact Vladimir Kochkin, Home Innovation director of applied engineering, at 301-430-6249.